AbstractRetinopathy of prematurity (ROP) and bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) are diseases that occur only in preterm infants. The etiology of these disorders is multifactorial; however, it is believed that some of the factors in children presenting with BPD affect both the initiation and severity of ROP. The aim of the study was to evaluate the degree of clinical severity of ROP in infants with BPD compared to those without BPD.MethodologyInfants were divided into two groups: the BPD+ study group and BPD- control group. Parameters including the incidence of ROP and its severity were compared.ResultsIn neonates with BPD, more severe forms of ROP occurred significantly more frequently than in infants without BPD. Newborns with BPD required significantly longer use of mechanical ventilation; moreover, the number of days in which the concentration of oxygen in the respiratory mixture exceeded 50% was greater in BPD+ children . Children with BPD also received more blood transfusions compared to children without BPD.ConclusionsNewborns in the BPD+ study group showed advanced stages of ROP more often than newborns in the BPD- control group. The etiology of ROP and BPD is multifactorial; however, our findings suggest oxygen plays a significant role in the development of these diseases.

The study revealed that CNS maturation delay expressed as M value was higher among infants with severe ROP than among infants with mild or no ROP. EEG examination in prematurely born infants may prove to be a useful tool for predicting ROP development.

The influence of the time factor on the statistical differences of MCV but not on the amount of transfused adult blood suggests that HbF - HbA replacement may play a role in ROP development.

The aim of this study was to develop and test a novel screening method for determining water quality. We hypothesised that L-ascorbic acid would be a good indicator of water quality, due to its sensitivity to pollutants. We investigated the absorption spectra of L-ascorbic acid dissolved at different concentrations in water from different sources. We defined a water quality index (WQI) as the change in maximum L-ascorbic acid absorbance at 265 nm over two arbitrarily chosen time periods, i.e. between the 1 st and 10 th minutes and 1 st and 20 th minutes. We found that a high WQI value was significantly associated with low water quality, and vice versa. The proposed technique is a quick, simple and inexpensive method for obtaining a preliminary estimate of water quality.

Background: Red blood cell (RBC) transfusions performed over 5 years in a neonatal ward were retrospectively analyzed. Despite the fact that ‘fresh’ RBC smallvolume transfusions given to preterm infants are called ‘traditional’ or even ‘historic’, this method of treatment is still used in all neonatal wards in Poland. Patients and Methods: A total of 846 RBC units were transfused to 216 patients, including 26 term and 190 preterm neonates. The transfusion rate and donor exposure rate were calculated. The same parameters were calculated for hypothetical use of blood satellite packs for transfusions in the analyzed patients and compared with the original data. Results: Application of a limited donor program could diminish the donor exposure rate more than twofold, from 3.5 to 1.63, in the very-low-birth-weight infants group and reduce the maximum number of donors from 11 to 3, at the same transfusion rate of 5.35. Conclusion: Introduction of strict RBC transfusion guidelines and a limited-donor blood program would improve transfusion therapy.